


Sunset

by Kikuneesama



Category: One Piece
Genre: Post-Marineford, Sad, im not good with these tags things so like yes its sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:41:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23686342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kikuneesama/pseuds/Kikuneesama
Summary: After his death Ace finally gets to meet his parents.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this a one shot based on this (https://chaotichero.tumblr.com/post/187659105247) fanart by chaotic hero on tumblr that wouldn't leave my mind.  
> Far from the greatest sad story ever written, but I cried while writing parts of it so I guess I might as well share it.

First thing he heard were waves. The slow, lulling sound of them slowly hitting the shoreline on a beach without ever stopping. Over and over again. A sound he knew very well and that had always calmed him beyond anything else. The ocean, this vast unknown space, that had called him away as a child and then guided him as an adult, it was what he loved. The sound brought onto him inner peace and satisfaction and he for the first time realised he felt like a heavy stone had been lifted of him. There was no pain. There was no aching. There were no longer voices crying and calling for him. No gunfire. No blood. The only sound was the peaceful approaching and drawing back of the waves.

I must have died, he thought. The realisation came onto him without any anger or sadness. He felt mostly relief, mixed with a little worry about Luffy’s whereabouts. But somehow, somewhere, he knew that Luffy was fine. His time hadn’t come yet.

He knew immediately that the fire had left him. Of course it had, he thought, I have died. He was knowledgeable enough about the beings of the world to understand, that once a devil fruit user died, the fruit would be regrown somewhere. Soon someone else would dance with the flames and feel the strangely tingling sensation all over his body at all times. Still, he felt like a good friend had left him behind. Moved on to other, better things and even though he could clearly feel sun on his face, he felt rather cold. In many regards though, he had left the fire, not the other way around. He had died after all.

Slowly he could feel his senses return. First, he slowly moved fingers, then his toes, then finally he opened his eyes. He was laying on a makeshift bed on a floor of a wooden building. Through the large, open windows he could see the ocean, from which the waves steadily moved ashore. The sun was setting and beaming warm lights right onto his face. He took up his hand and touched his chest, where – to him – just seconds earlier he had been bleeding without saving, and realised that he had no injuries. In fact, the painlessness was not just an afterlife effect, instead, he seemed fully healed.

After carefully touching various parts of his body to see if anything had left scars, he sat up. He hadn’t realised that he was in the treehouse. Well, he wasn’t actually in the treehouse, he assumed, it was just a part of his imagination. This is the place I have felt safest, the place where I have been happiest, so naturally, I return to this place, he thought. He wondered if Sabo had also come this way. He got up and walked all the way around the treehouse. The sake cups were here, and all the bumps in the wood from thousands of fights were also preserved. He had been laying in his familiar spot, with Sabo’s and Luffy’s spots right around him. Both beds locked untouched.

After letting the memory of his childhood sink in, he finally decided to climb down and walk to the beach. There were no bird sounds, and, as far as he could tell, no other people around. The only sound to be heard was the steady ocean flow. Over and over. He decided to go for a walk along the shoreline. The sun was still setting, night had not fallen yet. He wondered how long he would stay here or if this was his final resting place. Maybe, he thought, everyone spends the time after death alone in a happy memory. He was fascinated by the way he felt everything around him. The sand felt like actual warm sand, the trees and leaves all were solid and touchable and, in opposition to a usual dream, he could touch and scratch himself without the scene disappearing.

After a while of aimless walking he stopped and decided to walk towards the hideout of Dadan and the other bandits. He wondered if it would also be there and if it had been preserved exactly like the treehouse. It was remarkable how well he could still remember the way from the coast! I haven’t been here in years, he thought, still it’s like I have never left. Finally, he could spot the house from the distance. There were the little huts he had built with Luffy. There was the fixed roof, where he had thrown Sabo through. The house was exactly like he remembered but, and the sight made him stop for a second, there were people in front of it.

He stopped and looked. He immediately knew who they were. A taller, large man with a red coat and a big, noticeable moustache and a slender, way smaller, woman with long, waving hair and a flower in her hair. His parents. Never in his life had he seen a picture of his mother. He had heard stories of how kind, how strong, how beautiful she was, but he had never seen her. Of course, he had seen his famous father on many pictures and bounty posters, but now, with his hand around his mother, he seemed almost like a normal person. Detached from this figure of greatness everyone had always made of him. They were smiling and out to him.

He took a deep breath and then slowly started walking forward. His inside was boiling even without his flaming friend. “I never believed in the afterlife,” he said loud, trying to be his usual joking self, “but if I see you here-“. He was unable to go on. His mother had thrown himself forward and jumped to him, before he had even reached her. Her arms were around his neck so fast, that he had no time to react to it. “Ace”, she said. He had never heard her speak, he had never heard her say his name, she had never hugged him, he had never been close to her. It was like a dam had been built in his self, a buried desire to hear his mother call out to him. It was the loveliest sound in the world. Suddenly, he was a child again. Just himself asking Garp over an over again where his mother went, crying for her in lonely nights.

She was now running with her fingers through his hair, clenching around his shoulders as if she was worried that he would slip away from her again. “Ace,” she said again, as if she couldn’t believe that she was talking to him, “I’m…” She was crying. “ _Mommy_ , it’s fine”, he said, as if he were a little child, but his words were no more than a whisper. He pulled her to himself. He could feel tears running over his cheeks. He didn’t want his mother to cry. Every sob made his heart ache. “No”, she said, decidedly, “Don’t say that.” She sniffed loudly and then finally, she smiled. He put her back on her feet. Her hands were resting on his shoulders. Her tears were still flowing from her eyes without stopping.

She lightly touched his shoulder. “You… were so kind”, she finally said. “You were so brave and so strong and so, so very kind. You had everything going against you, your very existence, but it never made you anything else but kind.” She put one hand onto his cheek: “I’m so very proud of you.” This was all he ever wanted to hear. He had taken his mothers name with pride. This strong, resilient woman that had protected him for so many months and given her life to secure his well-being. He had wanted nothing else, but to make her sacrifice worthwhile. Being praised in this way was more than he had ever hoped for. Tenderly, he put his face deeper into the palm of her hand. What a wonderful feeling. How warm, how calming, how loving. They just remained like this a minute or two, softly crying in happiness.

“You have also,” a male voice said from behind, breaking the silence: “grown so big. Look at yourself. You are a fighter.” His mother now took her hand away and to his dismay gave way to his father, who now walked forward. Most of his life, Ace had hated him. His name and his recognizable face had made his life much harder than it should have been. It made him weary and lonely. Until he met Sabo, he had basically always kept to himself. He bit his tongue and felt himself tense up. No, this was not like meeting his mother that he had loved and missed from afar. His father put both hands on his shoulders and then, to Ace’s surprise, bowed his head.

“I’m sorry,” he said, clearly crying. “I’m sorry that you were killed for being my son.” His hands tightened their grip and his voice had started shaking. “You did not deserve this. I…. didn’t know…” His father now looked up, tears flooding out of his eyes as if to plead for Ace’s forgiveness. “I didn’t know this would await you. It shouldn’t have been. I’m so sorry.” It took only a second for Ace’s 20 years of resentment to melt away like ice cream in the hot sun. The tension he had felt just minutes earlier eased up; his anger had left him. With a shaky voice, he could hear himself say: “Dad…” and couldn’t believe it had come out of his mouth. His father’s eyes widened and before Ace could finish whatever he had been trying to say, which, hadn’t occurred to Ace himself yet, his father pulled him into a hug. A while they just remained like this, with his mother on his right running with her fingers through his hair again.

“You have to understand”, his father said into the silence, “that whatever happened in my lifetime and of all the places I have been, only _you_ were my greatest treasure.” He let go of his son and finally wiped away the tears out of his face. “I’m so proud of you, son. I’m so glad that Old-Man Garp and Newgate took care of you. I’m glad… that you found a father to be proud of. I should have been there to protect you and your mother. I should have known how tough your life would be. It is my fault. I’m sorry. I failed as your father.” His mother now put the other hand on her husband’s shoulder and slightly leaned her head against his arm.

Ace, who could see the pain in his father’s eyes, just shook his head: “I feel no anger towards you anymore, _dad”_ , he said and slowly tasted how the word felt on his tongue, “Everything is fine. I’ve had a good life.” He took a step back and then bowed himself, just as his father had done just a few minutes earlier. His face was lit up with a bright smile and he could feel the warmth inside his heart that was unrelated to the fire that he was used to. “Thank you, for giving me my life!”

His mother fell into his arms again, smiling, but sobbing. His father stepped forward and he, too, smiled proudly: “And what a life you’ve had.” He couldn’t believe, that his parents had been watching over him since the moment of his birth, that they had lived every dark and every light moment with him and now supported him in death. And they approved, loved, were even proud of his decisions. All the mistakes, all the failures and all the lonely days suddenly felt well worth the fight. If only they had been together in life and not in death. If only they would have had a chance to be a family. If only.

“Ace,” his mother said softly into his ear, and he again felt the light spark inside when he heard his name come out of her mouth, “the sun is setting. We should go before night falls.” Ace looked up surprised. He hadn’t realised that the sun still hadn’t gone down. While the light was clearly lower than it had been earlier, the sun itself was still visibly in the sky. What a strange time progression this place had, he thought, but then again, who cares for times and clocks in the afterlife. “I don’t understand, _Mommy_ ”, he said in confusion, “go where?”. She smiled warmly, but gave no answer. “There is a ship waiting”, his father said.

There was no reason to argue. Dutifully Ace followed his parents from Dadan’s house into the forest. He was so distracted with the arm that his mother was holding, that he forgot to take a last look. His father hadn’t been lying, there was a ship waiting ashore. Ace hadn’t seen it during his first tour around the beach, so it must have come in later. The sun had half sunken behind the waves, that still steadily came in. A feeling of farewell hung in the air. It was like that day Ace had left for the sea when he was 17.

The whole family sat into the little ship and immediately, without any of them moving any muscle or pulling any sail the ship started heading out. Ace looked from his mother, who was smiling at him happily, to his father, who looked out into the sea, to the beach that they had just left. He could see the long shore very clearly now. The sand, the trees and the treehouse though their crowns. He thought of his crew and his friends and wished them well. He thought of Whitebeard and wondered if he would meet him beyond the horizon, whatever there may be. He thought of Luffy. Be good, Ace thought, be kind. Be yourself and you will be fine, Luffy. And then he thought of Sabo. “God,” he said out loud, smiling, “I can’t wait to see Sabo again.”

The sun had finally set. Night was arriving. The ocean around them had grown dark, but nothing of the sun’s warmth had left. Ace could barely see the island in the distance now. A calm overcame him that he had never felt before. He was letting go. He was free. His mother put a soft hand onto his arm. The sky was dark blue and starless. He only heard the steady waves. Over and over and over again. He closed his eyes.

Muffled, as if she was speaking from far away, he heard his mothers voice: “Honey, Sabo hasn’t come here yet.”


End file.
